Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-11-05
MARY JAMES TRAVELS.
SHE TELLS OF A VISIT TO THE
FIELD OF WATERLOO.
Saucy Girls Who Sell Trinkets and Speah
american Engiish"-"Reubens,P +. p"
and the Ignorance oS Certain Tourists.
Some General Art Talk

/ out here for some time trying to discover
why Napoleon Bonaparte had the destiny
all licked out of him by the allies on this
| spot and It's vicinity something like severity
tive years ago, and as far as | am able TO
/ Judge, 1t WAS owing entirely TO the miserably
cruel and hoartleSs manner in which he
! treated Josephine, and was in the nature of
| retrlbutIve justice. OF all uninteresting
| places to VISIT | think an extinct battlefield
| comes first, and this one varies from its fell
! lows only In the fact tha! il is an everlasting
! warning to men to tieI: their wives de-
/ Gently. IL ever bristles grew on mans back
| they grew on NapOleon's and as wandered
over the field OF Waterloo and thought of the
mans unsated Sluttony of empire, of his
limtless seltishncss, Of his cold blooded am
bition, and looked back to the cruel
day on which he told Josephine that
he must, for reasons of state set
her aside and put another in her
place, 1t did my soul good to feel that Water
loo was synonymous with disaster and defeat
and that Napoleon was the party who had
been Waterlooed. That's about all l saw in
the battlefield, and the fate of nations and
dynasties and the rise and fall of empires
We're all obscured by this glorious vindicatiou
OF an abused wife, and was about to gather
my skirts about me and jump up and hooray,
when Dickey restrained my impetuosity by a
loud scream at a snake in the grass, and we
both went over the ditch into the road in n
state Of panic.
Waterloo being good, quiet place. have
chosen 1t as point to sit down at or on for
the purpose of collating what may have to
say in this letter.
1t is ten miles or so from Brussels, and is
in the midst of country much like blue
grass Kentucky in appearance, but without
the three cardinal virtues of that section. to
wit: pretty women, good whisky and fine
horses. l know from personal observation
that the first and last are not present, and
long limited kontuckian from Paris
France) informs me that the total absence of
the second is one Of the most painful experi-
ences he ever underwent so far from home.
and never while at home
have discovered that there are three kinds
OF English spoken in Europe, namely: Brit
sh English best, American English pic
turesquel, Continental English more or less
broken; and at Waterloo l think l have
found the nearest to American English of
any have heard 1t is spoken by the girls |
who sell trinkets, relics. etc on the field, and
l was first apprised Of it when l offered girl |
a half franc for picture she wanted two |
francs for. 1 thought, Of course, she would |
do the regular thing, and begin to hedge and |
cut the figures; but she didn't On the con-
trary, sh' looked at me roguisLly, and with a |
keen little 81 lille she replied:
"Ah. Lady. you've got no green in your |
eye"
A little lsarty had gathered by this time,
all bareheaded and rosy checked, and when l |
started away there was a chorus of ''Ta, tar |
Come again, ''See You later and other |
Americanisnis, which, learned afterwurd,
the girls had picked up in various firtations |
with spry young men from Uncle SANS do |
minionA 1t is about the only place where |
have heard any slang, too, and this reminds
rne that l have not heard a profane oath !
since l have been on the Continent, except
by sonae one who has had previous training
In America, and am really ashamed to &C
knowledge it The profanity and slang
which vitiate cur language constitute one Of
tho chief elements distinguishing American
English from the other varieties have men
toned elsewhere in this letter.
The other day over in Antwerp came
across another one Of our representative
Americans abroad 1t was really two, but
as they were married suppose it is all right
I" gay one. They had apparently just landed,
a. Antwerp is quite place for continental
ianders, and they were in the cathedral Ste
ing what was to be seen for the mark they
bad paid at the door.
my! my!" said she, stopping before Ru-
tens masterpiece, 1.-The Descent from the
Cross. " this must be fine one it's 50 aw-
iul big"
"Yes, guess it is" replied the husband,
,t<.t-f l. |
as red as a Kentucky politicians nosa.
Whose is itf" said she.
''The book says it's Rubens', but don't Bee
any name on the picture" he said, with some
did you say it was Rubens' Z" she asked,
after moments further investigation.
That's what the book says" said he.
''lt's rather indefinite she said Ruben
whol What's his last namef'
''Give it up said the man. "All the book
says il that it is Rubens. and suppose that's
all the name he had, like Matthew, Mark,
ancients," and then they went on around the
comprehending what they could
and guessing at the rest.
Another one not quite so bad grew out Of
this same painters name, but in this case the
II.
They We're before portrait.
"Who's it byf asked the one that didn't
have a guide book.
''Rubens, P P,- read the other from the
Took
''Yes, I've heard Of him, but what's the 'P
p for!' questioned the first one
'Well, l amt much up in art abbrevia-
tons" replied the other, .'bu. taking it by
and large, should say p. p stood for Por-
trait Painter"
And yet there are those who wonder why
art hasn't greater development in America,
why every city in the country hasn't gal
lery in which copies at least of the greatest
pictures and greatest sculptures of the great
masters may be seen and studied" said
to Dickey when had read her what had
written.
Every true,n said she; land while You are
about it, you might as well add to that last
story an explanation to the effect that p. p
stands for Peter Paul the artist name, lest
some other American he led astray.n
But scorn the insinuation, and ieave the
story just as it is
There's good deal of art in Belgium, and
Rubens flourishes i'll all galleries like a green
hay hos, but don't Eks Rube:,s. He paints
nude figures by the score, and you are always
undecided whether his flesh tints are suffer.
ing with the scarlet fever or have simply been
dropped for minute into boiling water while
his women have figures that ought to make
Venus get down off of canvas, and &c
into a smuggling match with Sullivan. In
brussels ] went to the Wiertz gallery, the
finest collection of allegorical torpid ivers in
the world. Wiertz, imagine, was born bill
ious, and he never got over it. He depicts